


Losing Zachary

by orphan_account



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Mania, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Mental Institutions, Minor Original Character(s), Multi, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Other, Realistic, Schizophrenia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26071294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: (Working summary just read the tags)
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Kudos: 2





	Losing Zachary

The alarm clock beeped loudly, red blocky numbers reading ten minutes until seven. Lewis laid still for a few moments, absorbing more heat from his slate-grey weighted comforter before he had to exit the warm bed. With a long sigh, Lewis slowly rolled over, discarding the comforter, goosebumps forming on his olive skin, a little bit of a shiver taking hold of his body as he contemplated sinking back into the comfort of his pillow and blankets. After a few moments of groggy blinking and observing the mostly dark room of his, Lewis trudged out to the kitchen. There was the faint sound of the running shower behind the closed bathroom door in the hallway, light sneaking through the cracks to illuminate the dark house. This would be his mom, getting a shower before heading out to her job in about fifteen minutes. She worked at a hardware store in their tiny town with a population never exceeding two thousand people, mixing paint, cutting fiberglass, and cashiering. Lewis couldn't imagine doing some mundane set of tasks over and over again like that all day, but was happy that his mom seemed to enjoy it substantially.  


Lewis’ mother—Mom the Second—didn’t work. She stayed home and took care of the house and was there when Lewis got off of the bus from school. Lewis’ mother was a tall, twiggy woman with wavy dark blonde hair and eyes that changed from deep brown to kaleidoscope honey when hit by the sun just right. On the other hand, Lewis’ mom was short and stocky with dark brown—almost black hair and hazel-brown eyes, characteristics Lewis had inherited.  


Reaching up on his tip-toes, Lewis grabbed a box of cereal and the half-empty gallon of milk from the refrigerator, pouring the ingredients into a chipped glass bowl, sticking a spoon in and beginning to eat the bland, repetitive breakfast. It was alright, but cereal got old after a little while.  


The bathroom door creaked open from the hallway and Lewis’ mom came out from the hallway, hair wrapped up in a worn, baby blue towel with her work shirt on over a black tank top and boot-cut blue jeans. She briefly ruffled Lewis’ hair as she passed by to grab her purse where it sat diligently on top of the refrigerator. Lewis just half-heartedly put some of his hair back in place, still zombily munching on cereal.  


“Not alive until eight, eh?” Molly, Lewis’ mom teased lightly.  


“Maybe not even eight,” Lewis mumbled, voice rough from sleep.  


Molly just smiled with a soft snicker as she grabbed her keys. “Have a good day. Bye, love you.”  


“Bye Mom, love you too,” Lewis called just before Molly shut the front door behind her.  


He stared at the chipping paint on the door for a few moments before standing up and placing his bowl and spoon in the sink and heading off to his room to find something to wear. This shouldn’t be difficult, considering he usually wore the same outfit just with different variations everyday, but sometimes it still took ten minutes just to pick out what to wear, and Lewis was too lazy to put out clothes the night before.  


After quiet contemplation, he settled on a dark navy blue sweater over a black button-up that always reminded him of his grandpa’s funky suits from the 70’s. Lewis shrugged on some shoes that he never untied and were well-creased on top of the foot, slinging his backpack over one of his shoulders and standing by the door to wait for the awfulness that was the public bus transportation full of six through eighteen year olds.  
***  


Lewis probably stood outside of his first period classroom for five minutes waiting for even the sight of blue-tinged hair bouncing through the hall or the slight squeak of very well-cared for shoes that belonged to his best friend Zachary. He didn’t show. Lewis was forced to walk into class alone, wondering if Zach was sick or decided to ditch. He tried to look for him after first period, but Zach wasn’t even at his locker. Lewis worried throughout the entire school day, constantly looking at his phone, waiting for it to light up with a “woke up late lol” text. A missed call. He needed something. Anything.  


Lewis looked up from his still-dark phone, mouth open. 

“Anybody see—. . .”  


The hallway was empty.  


Lewis looked up and down the hall, peeking around the corner. Nothing. Nobody was out there. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and mild panic, wondering where everyone had suddenly gone to.  


The tardy bell rang. Oh.  


Lewis jumped, readjusting his bag on his shoulder and walking to his last class, still holding his dark phone, of which he stared at under his desk the entire time. It was a miracle it wasn’t confiscated.  


He felt strange walking out to the buses by himself, Lewis did. Usually Zach would be rattling off to him about some guy he saw or complaining about the school administration not allowing him to use the guys’ bathroom yet still. Sometimes he complained about his parents or people who kept looking at him funny. All while sipping iced coffee that was somehow still cold and speaking almost incoherently quickly. Zachary had simply gone practically radio silent all day and no one had said a word. Huh.  


At home, Lewis plopped his backpack down on a chair at the table before rummaging through the cabinets for a snack or two. “Hey, Mother?” he called.  


“I’m here. How was school?” Taylor, Lewis’ mother, called back.  


“Like usual. Well, no, not like usual. Zach didn’t show up today. I dunno if he decided to ditch or what, but he didn’t even text me or anything.”  


There was a bit of a pause of silence. “Is this a new friend? Or do I already know Zach?”  


Lewis furrowed his eyebrows, pulling out a package of crackers from the box. “Zachary. He comes over all the time. Really likes Mom’s tacos.”  


“You never have anyone over, Lewis, are you okay?” Taylor poked her head around the corner, face full of concern.  


“. . .Zach just came over the other day, though. . .” Something pulled in Lewis’ gut. It made him feel ill.  


“Nobody came over the other day. Hun, are you sick?” Taylor walked into the kitchen, a hand already against Lewis’ forehead before he could duck away.  


Lewis swatted at her hand. “I’m not siiiiick. . .”  


“Well you don’t feel warm. Why don’t you go lie down for a little while?”  


Lewis subtly rolled his eyes, taking the package of crackers and picking up his backpack and taking it off to his room, plopping down in bed. He opened the package, sticking a cracker in his mouth before texting Zach, asking where he was. He stared for a few moments, waiting for any indication of Zach potentially typing, but there was nothing, so instead he set his phone on the bed, pulling out his school laptop to begin homework.  


When Molly came home from work and Lewis heard the front door open, he jumped out of bed. “Hey Mom, remember Zachary? He wasn’t at school today and I’m getting kind of worried.”  


Molly set her keys and purse down, slipping off her shoes. “Remind me who Zachary is?”  


“Blue tinged hair, talks inhumanely fast, really likes shoes, good at chemistry. . .?” Lewis felt like there was a fishing hook in his gut, intestines strung on it like a worm, all of them being tugged downward into his feet.  


“I’m sorry, Lewis, he doesn’t ring a bell.”  


“Mom, we just had him over a couple days ago.”  


“I don’t recall you having anyone over a few days ago. . .”  


Lewis let out a small “oh” before just slowly putting up the rest of the crackers he hadn’t eaten while Taylor and Molly gave each other the concerned parent look.  


Lewis didn’t say anything else about Zachary to his moms all evening. Zach never replied to his text, even after Lewis spammed him to try to get him to answer.  


He really just hoped Zach would be at school tomorrow.


End file.
